0000000000605968
AUTHOR
Vincenzo Lavanco
Three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography in the guide of cardiac mass biopsy
Cardiac tumors are rare. Cardiovascular imaging is more important in the differential diagnosis of cardiac masses but no current noninvasive diagnostic tool has the ability to absolutely diagnose cardiac tumors. In effect cardiac biopsy remains the gold standard in the differential diagnosis. In our case we show the advantages of three-dimensional (3D) transesophageal echocardiography as a guide for cardiac biopsy. We believe that 3D TEE is ready to be used in the guide of cardiac mass biopsy. Once interventionalists become confident with 3D imaging, this technique should be used routinely during these procedures.
Perforated giant mycotic aneurysm of mitral valve in a drug-addicted young man: Rare complication of infective endocarditis
Infective endocarditis (IE) affects patients at high clinical risk and may present as an acute and rapidly progressive, subacute or chronic infection. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography represent the key diagnostic method in IE diagnosis. In particular, three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography represents the imaging technique that allows to establish with adequate accuracy dimensions, shape, and localization of endocarditis vegetations. In our case, we show a huge vermiform mycotic aneurysm in an immunodeficient young drug-addicted man with severe mitral valve regurgitation and the additive value of three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography in this specifi…
Multimodality imaging approach to paradoxical embolism: a cauliflower mass on the Eustachian valve
The Eustachian valve was first described by Bartolomeo Eustachio (Italian anatomist) at 1552. It is an embryological remnant of the inferior vena cava valve that prenatally directs the oxygenated blood from inferior vena cava across the patent foramen ovale (PFO) into systemic circulation. Generally, following birth, after the closure of the foramen ovale it gradually regresses and not have a specific function, but it may persist in some patients as a floating membrane in the right atrium (RA), a nonpathological functionless structure.1 The prevalence of Eustachian valve in the normal population is unknown. Generally, it is an incidental finding without any significant pathophysiological co…